
The number of cats rescued in the Okanagan has significantly ballooned over the last year, following already record-high numbers.
According to the Okanagan Humane Society, 883 rescue reports were made for cats and kittens in 2024 alone. However, that doesn't reflect the actual numbers.
Each report represents one to 50 cats. As such, the society estimates around 4,000 individual cats were rescued in the year.
"We had a record year last year, and we broke records from the years previous for the number of animals that we're taking into care and getting spayed or neutered," said Romany Runnalls, Okanagan Humane Society volunteer president.
It's a pervasive and growing problem.
In October, Cindy Grigg found a group of six cats along Lakeshore Drive and 16th Avenue in Osoyoos. Summer campers were feeding the cats, but moved back home for the winter and could no longer take care of them.
Grigg believes nearby farmers had barn cats, but could no longer could keep up with litters. Another nine cats were found in the same spot the year before.
"It's a huge problem going on everywhere," said Grigg.
"A few years ago, we had a real problem down at our end of the road with people dropping off cats. ...My neighbour had, on two occasions, somebody trying to drop off a box of kittens in his hedge."
Back in 2023, more than 50 sickly cats were found on a resident's property, resulting in a $30,000 recovery bill for the Okanagan Humane Society.
Abandoned and feral cats require people to survive, said Runnalls.
"They can't survive on their own outside without human support. Cats are not wild animals, they don't hibernate," she said.
"They are domesticated animals, so they absolutely need human support in order to survive the winters, especially because [there's] no prey sources anymore for them to help supplement their diet."
Grigg, who has voluntarily worked with the society numerous times, knows that all too well.
She kept three cats, rescuing a mom and two kittens, which fell pregnant. She said, "So in one fell swoop, in six months, it went from one to 16 cats."
She also travelled from Osoyoos to West Kelowna twice in once day to get the most recent group ready to be adopted.
"I just don't want them getting pregnant again, and having more and more and more," she added.
In addition to requiring human support to live, cats who haven't been socialized as kittens risk being unadoptable if they learn to fear humans.
"We would love to encourage our farmers and all pet owners to get their animals fixed," Runnalls said.
The rescues mission is to "get all of these animals spayed or neutered in the Okanagan so that they stop reproducing out of control and causing problems," she said.
With a $200 vet recovery cost, the Humane Society vaccinates, deworms, and microchips the cats for adoption. For feral and non-social pets, the organization offers a farm cat program.
"Every single one of them gets fixed. That's our solution. That's our main issue and mandate. And we really need support. We're 100 per cent donor funded."
For more information on the Okanagan Humane Society click here.